117-607: The National Digital Library Program ( NDLP ) is a project by the United States Library of Congress to assemble a digital library of reproductions of primary source materials to support the study of the history and culture of the United States. The NDLP brought online 24 million books and documents from the Library of Congress and other research institutions. Begun in 1995 after a five-year pilot project,
234-663: A concert hall to be constructed within the Library of Congress building and an honorarium established for the Music Division to pay live performers for concerts. A number of chairs and consultantships were established from the donations, the most well-known of which is the Poet Laureate Consultant . The library's expansion eventually filled the library's Main Building, although it used shelving expansions in 1910 and 1927. The library needed to expand into
351-1140: A "democracy alcove" in the Main Reading Room of the Jefferson Building for essential documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and The Federalist Papers . The Library of Congress assisted during the war effort, ranging from storage of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution in Fort Knox for safekeeping to researching weather data on the Himalayas for Air Force pilots. MacLeish resigned in 1944 when appointed as Assistant Secretary of State. President Harry Truman appointed Luther H. Evans as Librarian of Congress. Evans, who served until 1953, expanded
468-403: A $ 5,000 appropriation for the Library of Congress, noting the need to improve its collections in "Law, Politics, Commerce, History, and Geography," which were crucial for Congress. On December 24, 1851, the largest fire in the library's history destroyed 35,000 books, two-thirds of the library's collection, and two-thirds of Jefferson's original transfer. Congress appropriated $ 168,700 to replace
585-550: A foreign power had captured and occupied a United States capital . Following the defeat of American forces at the Battle of Bladensburg on August 24, 1814, a British army led by Major-General Robert Ross marched on Washington, D.C. That evening, British soldiers and sailors set fire to multiple public buildings, including the Presidential Mansion , United States Capitol , and Washington Navy Yard . The attack
702-610: A ladder to get it down. All she carried off was the silver in her reticule , as the British were thought to be but a few squares off, and were expected any moment. Jennings said the people who saved the painting and removed the objects actually were: John Susé ( Jean Pierre Sioussat , the French door-keeper, and still living at the time of Jennings's memoir) and Magraw [McGraw], the President's gardener, took it down and sent it off on
819-453: A legislative and national library. Asked by Joint Library Committee chairman Senator Claiborne Pell (D-RI) to assess operations and make recommendations, Douglas Bryant of Harvard University Library proposed several institutional reforms. These included expanding national activities and services and various organizational changes, all of which would emphasize the library's federal role rather than its legislative role. Bryant suggested changing
936-546: A more general one. He organized his books based on Francis Bacon 's organization of knowledge , grouping them into Memory, Reason, and Imagination with 44 subdivisions. The library used this scheme until the late 19th century when librarian Herbert Putnam introduced the Library of Congress Classification , now applying to over 138 million items. A February 24, 1824, report from the Committee of Ways and Means recommended
1053-430: A national library and a legislative resource. He was aided by expansion of the federal government after the war and a favorable political climate. He began comprehensively collecting Americana and American literature , led the construction of a new building to house the library, and transformed the librarian of Congress position into one of strength and independence. Between 1865 and 1870, Congress appropriated funds for
1170-595: A new structure. Congress acquired nearby land in 1928 and approved construction of the Annex Building (later known as the John Adams Building ) in 1930. Although delayed during the Depression years, it was completed in 1938 and opened to the public in 1939. After Putnam retired in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed poet and writer Archibald MacLeish as his successor. Occupying
1287-497: A permanent display), on the global celebration commemorating the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta , and on early American printing, featuring the Rubenstein Bay Psalm Book . Onsite access to the Library of Congress has been increased. Billington gained an underground connection between the new U.S. Capitol Visitors Center and the library in 2008 in order to increase both congressional usage and public tours of
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#17327725335991404-422: A place in the Library of Congress, stating: I do not know that it contains any branch of science which Congress would wish to exclude from their collection; there is, in fact, no subject to which a Member of Congress may not have occasion to refer. Jefferson's library was a working collection for a scholar, not for display. It doubled the size of the original library, transforming it from a specialist's library to
1521-508: A proclamation calling on citizens to defend the District of Columbia. Congress did not return for three and a half weeks. When they did so, they assembled in special session on September 19 in the Post and Patent Office building at Blodgett's Hotel, one of the few buildings large enough to hold all members to be spared. Congress met in this building until December 1815, when construction of
1638-446: A restricted scope for the Library of Congress reflected those shared by members of Congress. While Meehan was a librarian, he supported and perpetuated the notion that "the congressional library should play a limited role on the national scene and that its collections, by and large, should emphasize American materials of obvious use to the U.S. Congress." In 1859, Congress transferred the library's public document distribution activities to
1755-495: A retaliation against the American destruction of private property in violation of the laws of war . Prévost argued that, in consequence of the late disgraceful conduct of the American troops in the wanton destruction of private property on the north shores of Lake Erie, in order that if the war with the United States continues you may, should you judge it advisable, assist in inflicting that measure of retaliation which shall deter
1872-565: A similar fate". The Reverend John Strachan , who as Rector of York had witnessed the American acts there, wrote to Thomas Jefferson that the damage to Washington "was a small retaliation after redress had been refused for burnings and depredations, not only of public but private property, committed by them in Canada". When they ultimately returned to Bermuda, the British forces took with them two pairs of portraits of King George III and his wife, Queen Charlotte , which had been discovered in one of
1989-694: A small congressional library was housed in the Capitol. Much of the original collection was lost in the August 1814 Burning of Washington by the British during the War of 1812 . Congress accepted former president Thomas Jefferson 's offer to sell his entire personal collection of 6,487 books to restore the library. The collection grew slowly and suffered another major fire in 1851, which destroyed two-thirds of Jefferson's original books. The Library of Congress faced space shortages, understaffing, and lack of funding, until
2106-599: A three-year competition to enable institutions like libraries to digitize their U.S. history collections. Library of Congress The Library of Congress ( LOC ) is a research library in Washington, D.C. , serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the de facto national library of the United States . It also administers copyright law through
2223-610: A wagon, with some large silver urns and such other valuables as could be hastily got hold of. When the British did arrive, they ate up the very dinner, and drank the wines, &c., that I had prepared for the President's party. The sappers and miners of the Corps of Royal Engineers under Captain Blanshard, who were employed in burning the government buildings, entered the White House. Blanshard reported that it seemed that Madison
2340-507: Is the same one on display in the East Room .) "A dozen descendants of Jennings came to Washington, to visit the White House. They looked at the painting their relative helped save." In an interview with National Public Radio, Jennings' great-great-grandson, Hugh Alexander, said, "We were able to take a family portrait in front of the painting, which was for me one of the high points." He confirmed that Jennings later purchased his freedom from
2457-500: The National Intelligencer , intending to burn it down. However, several women persuaded him not to because they were afraid the fire would spread to their neighboring houses. Cockburn wanted to destroy the newspaper because its reporters had written so negatively about him, branding him the "Ruffian". Instead, he ordered his troops to tear the building down brick by brick, and ordered all the "C" type destroyed "so that
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#17327725335992574-593: The American Library Association testified that the library should continue its expansion to become a true national library. Based on the hearings, Congress authorized a budget that allowed the library to more than double its staff, from 42 to 108 persons. Senators Justin Morrill of Vermont and Daniel W. Voorhees of Indiana were particularly helpful in gaining this support. The library also established new administrative units for all aspects of
2691-686: The Betts Stradivarius ; and the Cassavetti Stradivarius . Burning of Washington British victory 1814 The Burning of Washington , also known as the Capture of Washington , was a successful British amphibious attack conducted by Rear-Admiral George Cockburn during Admiral Sir John Warren 's Chesapeake campaign . It was the only time since the American Revolutionary War that
2808-705: The Congressional Research Service . After Mumford retired in 1974, President Gerald Ford appointed historian Daniel J. Boorstin as a librarian. Boorstin's first challenge was to manage the relocation of some sections to the new Madison Building, which took place between 1980 and 1982. With this accomplished, Boorstin focused on other areas of library administration, such as acquisitions and collections. Taking advantage of steady budgetary growth, from $ 116 million in 1975 to over $ 250 million by 1987, Boorstin enhanced institutional and staff ties with scholars, authors, publishers, cultural leaders, and
2925-661: The Department of the Interior and its international book exchange program to the Department of State . During the 1850s, Smithsonian Institution librarian Charles Coffin Jewett aggressively tried to develop the Smithsonian as the United States national library. His efforts were rejected by Smithsonian secretary Joseph Henry , who advocated a focus on scientific research and publication. To reinforce his intentions for
3042-693: The Gutenberg Bible . Putnam established the Legislative Reference Service (LRS) in 1914 as a separative administrative unit of the library. Based on the Progressive era 's philosophy of science to be used to solve problems, and modeled after successful research branches of state legislatures, the LRS would provide informed answers to Congressional research inquiries on almost any topic. Congress passed in 1925 an act allowing
3159-537: The John Adams Building (opened in 1939) and the James Madison Memorial Building (opened in 1980), were later added. The LOC's primary mission is to inform legislation, which it carries out through the Congressional Research Service . The library is open to the public for research, although only members of Congress, their staff, and library employees may borrow materials for use outside the library. James Madison of Virginia proposed
3276-516: The Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) algorithm. In other cases, the lack of well established standards has led to the use of emerging formats, e.g., RealAudio (for audio), QuickTime (for moving images), and MrSID (for maps). Technical information by types of material and by individual collections is also available on the site. The Library received funding from Congress and private sector donations, sponsoring
3393-651: The National Film Registry , a collection of American films, for which the Library of Congress accepts nominations each year. There also exists a National Recording Registry administered by the National Recording Preservation Board that serves a similar purpose for music and sound recordings. The library has made some of these available on the Internet for free streaming and additionally has provided brief essays on
3510-502: The Old Brick Capitol was complete. Most contemporary American observers, including newspapers representing anti-war Federalists , condemned the destruction of the public buildings as needless vandalism. Many in the British public were shocked by the burning of the Capitol and other buildings at Washington. Such actions were denounced by most leaders of continental Europe, where capital cities had been repeatedly occupied in
3627-646: The Royal Navy 's North America and West Indies Station , controlling naval forces based at the new Bermuda dockyard and the Halifax Naval Yard , which were used to blockade American ports throughout the war. He planned to carry the war into the United States, by attacks in Virginia and against New Orleans . Rear-Admiral George Cockburn had commanded the squadron in Chesapeake Bay since
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3744-879: The United States Copyright Office . Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States . It is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill , adjacent to the United States Capitol , along with the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia , and additional storage facilities at Fort George G. Meade and Cabin Branch in Maryland. The library's functions are overseen by
3861-471: The interlibrary loan service, transforming the Library of Congress into what he referred to as a "library of last resort". Putnam also expanded library access to "scientific investigators and duly qualified individuals", and began publishing primary sources for the benefit of scholars. During Putnam's tenure, the library broadened the diversity of its acquisitions. In 1903, Putnam persuaded President Theodore Roosevelt to use an executive order to transfer
3978-420: The librarian of Congress and establishing a Joint Committee on the Library to oversee it. The law also extended borrowing privileges to the president and vice president. In August 1814, British forces occupied Washington and, in retaliation for American acts in Canada, burned several government buildings, including the Library of Congress. Most of its 3,000 volumes were destroyed. These volumes were held in
4095-520: The librarian of Congress , and its buildings are maintained by the architect of the Capitol . The LOC is one of the largest libraries in the world , containing approximately 173 million items and employing over 3,000 staff. Its collections are "universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 470 languages". When Congress moved to Washington in November 1800,
4212-399: The 1897 reorganization upon moving into its new home, the Library of Congress began to grow and develop more rapidly. Librarian Spofford's successor John Russell Young overhauled the library's bureaucracy, used his connections as a former diplomat to acquire more materials from around the world, and established the library's first assistance programs for the blind and physically disabled, with
4329-480: The 4,500-man army in Washington, composed of the 1st Battalion, the 4th (King's Own) Regiment of Foot , the 21st (Royal North British Fusilier) Regiment of Foot , the 1st Battalion, the 44th (East Essex) Regiment of Foot , the 85th Regiment of Foot and a battalion of Royal Marines . This force defeated an American army at the Battle of Bladensburg . President James Madison , members of his government, and
4446-586: The American Civil War increased the importance of legislative research to meet the demands of a growing federal government. In 1870, the library gained the right to receive two copies of every copyrightable work printed in the United States; it also built its collections through acquisitions and donations. Between 1890 and 1897, a new library building, now the Thomas Jefferson Building , was constructed. Two additional buildings,
4563-539: The British were prevented from collecting enough wood to burn the stone walls completely. However, the Library of Congress's contents in the northern wing contributed to the flames on that side. Among the items destroyed was the 3,000-volume collection of the Library of Congress and the intricate decorations of the neoclassical columns, pediments, and sculptures designed by William Thornton in 1793 and Benjamin Latrobe in 1803. The wooden ceilings and floors burned and
4680-556: The British were trying to dispose of them by dropping them into a well, the powder ignited. As many as thirty British soldiers were killed in the explosion, with several others injured. Less than four days after the attack began, a sudden, very heavy thunderstorm—possibly a hurricane —put out the fires. It also spun off a tornado that passed through the center of the capital, setting down on Constitution Avenue and lifting two cannons before dropping them several yards away and killing British troops and American civilians alike. Following
4797-617: The Capitol building . Hayden clarified two days later that rioters did not breach any of the Library's buildings or collections and all staff members were safely evacuated. On February 14, 2023, the Library announced that the Lilly Endowment gifted $ 2.5 million, five-year grant to "launch programs that foster greater understanding of religious cultures in Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East". The Library plans to leverage
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4914-493: The Castle due to its Norman architectural style, was severely damaged by fire. This incident presented Henry with an opportunity related to the Smithsonian's non-scientific library. Around this time, the Library of Congress was planning to build and relocate to the new Thomas Jefferson Building , designed to be fireproof. Authorized by an act of Congress, Henry transferred the Smithsonian's non-scientific library of 40,000 volumes to
5031-581: The House of Representatives, then the northern wing, containing the Senate. Prior to setting it aflame, the British sacked the building, which at that time housed Congress, the Library of Congress , and the Supreme Court . Items looted by troops led by Rear Admiral Cockburn included a ledger entitled "An account of the receipts and expenditures of the United States for the year 1810"; the admiral wrote on
5148-809: The Jefferson Building were enlarged and technologically enhanced to serve as a national exhibition venue. It has hosted more than 100 exhibitions. These included exhibits on the Vatican Library and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France , several on the Civil War and Lincoln, on African-American culture, on Religion and the founding of the American Republic, the Early Americas (the Kislak Collection became
5265-540: The Library Collections Security Oversight Committee in 1992 to improve protection of the collections, and also the Library of Congress Congressional Caucus in 2008 to draw attention to the library's curators and collections. He created the library's first Young Readers Center in the Jefferson Building in 2009, and the first large-scale summer intern (Junior Fellows) program for university students in 1991. Under Billington,
5382-502: The Library of Congress as "one of the last refuges in Washington of serious bipartisanship and calm, considered conversation", and "one of the world's greatest cultural centers". Carla Hayden was sworn in as the 14th librarian of Congress on September 14, 2016, the first woman and the first African American to hold the position. In 2017, the library announced the Librarian-in-Residence program, which aims to support
5499-502: The Library of Congress in 1866. President Abraham Lincoln appointed John G. Stephenson as librarian of Congress in 1861; the appointment is regarded as the most political to date. Stephenson was a physician and spent equal time serving as librarian and as a physician in the Union Army . He could manage this division of interest because he hired Ainsworth Rand Spofford as his assistant. Despite his new job, Stephenson focused on
5616-426: The Library of Congress to establish a trust fund board to accept donations and endowments, giving the library a role as a patron of the arts . The library received donations and endowments by such prominent wealthy individuals as John D. Rockefeller , James B. Wilbur, and Archer M. Huntington . Gertrude Clarke Whittall donated five Stradivarius violins to the library. Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge 's donations paid for
5733-523: The Madison House, still stands in Brookeville. On August 24, 1814, the British, led by Ross and Cockburn, entered Washington with a force of 4,500 "battle hardened" men. The plan to attack Washington had been formulated by Rear Admiral Cockburn, who predicted that "within a short period of time, with enough force, we could easily have at our mercy the capital". Ross commanded the troops and
5850-606: The Old Brick Capitol between December 1815 and December 1819, when the Capitol reopened. The Capitol reconstruction took much longer than anticipated. The Old Brick Capitol took only five months to complete, but the Capitol took twelve years. A committee appointed by Congress to investigate the damage to the district concluded that it was cheaper to rebuild the already existing and damaged buildings than to build an entirely new one. On February 13, President Madison and Congress passed legislation to borrow $ 500,000 to repair
5967-490: The Patent Office was the only Government building ... left untouched" in Washington. The Americans had already burned much of the historic Washington Navy Yard , founded by Thomas Jefferson, to prevent capture of stores and ammunition, as well as the 44-gun frigate USS Columbia and the 22-gun USS Argus , both new vessels nearing completion. The Navy Yard's Latrobe Gate , Quarters A, and Quarters B were
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#17327725335996084-405: The Senate wing of the Capitol; one surviving volume was a government account book from 1810. This volume was taken by British commander George Cockburn as a souvenir and returned to the U.S. by his family in 1940. Within a month, Jefferson offered to sell his large personal library as a replacement. He had reconstituted his own collection after losing part of it to a fire. Congress accepted
6201-557: The Smithsonian, Henry established laboratories, developed a robust physical sciences library, and started the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge , the first of many publications intended to disseminate research results. For Henry, the Library of Congress was the obvious choice as the national library. Unable to resolve the conflict, Henry dismissed Jewett in July 1854. In 1865, the Smithsonian building, also called
6318-508: The Twitter archive remains unfinished. Before retiring in 2015, after 28 years of service, Billington had come "under pressure" as librarian of Congress. This followed a GAO report that described a "work environment lacking central oversight" and faulted Billington for "ignoring repeated calls to hire a chief information officer, as required by law." When Billington announced his plans to retire in 2015, commentator George Weigel described
6435-542: The United States focused on imposing a naval blockade at sea, and maintaining a defensive stance on land. The British Army could not reinforce Canada; instead, the government relied on militia units and indigenous allies to support the British Army units already posted in Canada. With the defeat and exile of Napoleon in April 1814, Britain was able to use its newly available troops and ships to prosecute its war with
6552-400: The United States's role in initiating the war, viewing this as an act of aggression. Several commentators regarded the damages as just revenge for the American destruction of the Parliament buildings and other public buildings in York , the provincial capital of Upper Canada , early in 1813. Sir George Prévost wrote that "as a just retribution, the proud capital at Washington has experienced
6669-642: The United States. The Earl of Bathurst , serving as Secretary of State for War and the Colonies , dispatched an army brigade and additional naval vessels to the imperial fortress of Bermuda, from where a blockade of the U.S. coast and even the occupation of some coastal islands had been overseen throughout the war. It was decided to use these forces in raids along the Atlantic seaboard to draw American forces away from Canada. The commanders were under strict orders not to carry out operations far inland, or to attempt to hold territory. Early in 1814, Vice-Admiral Alexander Cochrane had been appointed commander-in-chief of
6786-433: The anti-establishment MP Samuel Whitbread , joining in the criticism, declaring that the government was "making much of the taking of a few buildings in a non-strategic swamp, as though it had captured Paris". In contrast, the majority of British public opinion perceived the burnings to be justified following the damage that the U.S. military had inflicted during its incursions into Canada. The British public also pointed to
6903-416: The area, Washington property owners funded the building of the Old Brick Capitol, a larger meeting space where the Supreme Court now stands. Construction of the Old Brick Capitol cost $ 25,000 and was funded primarily through the sale of stocks. The largest donor was Daniel Carroll of Duddington, a rich English property owner in the area. Construction began on July 4, and concluded in December. Congress met in
7020-487: The attack, of whom the fatality and three of the wounded were from the 6th West India Regiment of the Corps of Colonial Marines . The destruction of the Capitol, including the Senate House and the House of Representatives, the Arsenal, Dockyard, Treasury, War Office, President's mansion, bridge over the Potomac, a frigate and a sloop together with all materiel was estimated at £365,000 or around $ 40,540,000 in 2021. A separate British force captured Alexandria, Virginia , on
7137-403: The burning of the White House and the Capitol building. The United States Capitol was, according to some contemporary travelers, the only building in Washington "worthy to be noticed". Thus, it was a prime target for the British, for both its aesthetic and its symbolic value. Upon arrival into the city via Maryland Avenue , the British targeted the Capitol, first the southern wing, containing
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#17327725335997254-434: The business community. His activities changed the post of librarian of Congress so that by the time he retired in 1987, The New York Times called this office "perhaps the leading intellectual public position in the nation." President Ronald Reagan nominated historian James H. Billington as the 13th librarian of Congress in 1987, and the U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed the appointment. Under Billington's leadership,
7371-429: The capital would degrade the American sense of dignity and strength (however, many Southern congressmen simply did not want to move the capital north of the Mason–Dixon line ). On September 21, the House of Representatives voted to strike down a proposal to relocate the capital from Washington, D.C. by a margin of 83 to 54. On February 3, 1815, in an effort to guarantee that the federal government would always remain in
7488-439: The case, the British occupation of Washington lasted only about 26 hours. Despite this, the "Storm that saved Washington", as it became known, did the opposite according to some. The rains sizzled and cracked the already charred walls of the White House and ripped away at structures the British had no plans to destroy (such as the Patent Office). The storm may have exacerbated an already dire situation for Washington D.C. An encounter
7605-406: The collection. In its bill, Congress strengthened the role of librarian of Congress: it became responsible for governing the library and making staff appointments. As with presidential Cabinet appointments, the Senate was required to approve presidential appointees to the position. In 1893, Elizabeth Dwyer became the first woman to be appointed to the staff of the library. With this support and
7722-411: The construction of the Thomas Jefferson Building , placed all copyright registration and deposit activities under the library's control, and restored the international book exchange. The library also acquired the vast libraries of the Smithsonian and of historian Peter Force , strengthening its scientific and Americana collections significantly. By 1876, the Library of Congress had 300,000 volumes; it
7839-399: The course of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars but always spared destruction, at least on the part of the occupiers—the famous burning of Moscow that occurred less than two years prior had been an act carried out by the defenders . According to The Annual Register , the burning had "brought a heavy censure on the British character", with some members of Parliament, including
7956-547: The donation in these areas: The collections of the Library of Congress include more than 32 million catalogued books and other print materials in 470 languages; more than 61 million manuscripts ; the largest rare book collection in North America, including the rough draft of the Declaration of Independence , a Gutenberg Bible (originating from the Saint Blaise Abbey, Black Forest —one of only three perfect vellum copies known to exist); over 1 million U.S. government publications; 1 million issues of world newspapers spanning
8073-401: The enemy from a repetition of similar outrages. Many sources also suggest that the attack on Washington was motivated by revenge for the American looting of York in Upper Canada, the provincial capital, after the Battle of York in April 1813. Earlier, the British had filed general complaints about the "wanton destruction" along the Niagara region and Lake Erie. Major General Ross commanded
8190-445: The establishment of the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled . Librarian Young's successor Herbert Putnam held the office for forty years of the 20th century from 1899 to 1939. Two years after he took office, the library became the first in the United States to hold one million volumes. Putnam focused his efforts to make the library more accessible and useful for the public and for other libraries. He instituted
8307-465: The fifteen-year-old boy Paul Jennings , was an eyewitness. After later buying his freedom from the widow Dolley Madison, Jennings published his memoir in 1865, considered the first from the White House: It has often been stated in print, that when Mrs. Madison escaped from the White House, she cut out from the frame the large portrait of Washington (now in one of the parlors there), and carried it off. She had no time for doing it. It would have required
8424-478: The films that have been added to the registry. By 2015, the librarian had named 650 films to the registry. The films in the collection date from the earliest period to ones produced more than ten years ago; they are selected from nominations submitted to the board. Further programs included: During Billington's tenure, the library acquired General Lafayette 's papers in 1996 from a castle at La Grange, France; they had previously been inaccessible. It also acquired
8541-599: The first library-wide audit. He created the first Office of the Inspector General at the library to provide regular, independent reviews of library operations. This precedent has resulted in regular annual financial audits at the library; it has received unmodified ("clean") opinions from 1995 onward. In April 2010, the library announced plans to archive all public communication on Twitter , including all communication since Twitter's launch in March 2006. As of 2015 ,
8658-619: The future generation of librarians by giving them the opportunity to gain work experience in five different areas of librarianship, including: Acquisitions/Collection Development, Cataloging/Metadata, and Collection Preservation. On January 6, 2021, at 1:11 pm EST, the Library's Madison Building and the Cannon House Office Building were the first buildings in the Capitol Complex to be ordered to evacuate as rioters breached security perimeters before storming
8775-562: The glass skylights melted from the intense heat. The building was not a complete loss. The House rotunda, the east lobby, the staircases, and Latrobe's famous Corn-Cob Columns in the Senate entrance hall all survived. The Superintendent of the Public Buildings of the City of Washington, Thomas Munroe, concluded that the loss to the Capitol amounted to $ 787,163.28, with $ 457,388.36 for the north wing and main building, and $ 329,774.92 for
8892-605: The idea of creating a congressional library in 1783. Though initially rejected, this was the first introduction of the concept. After the Revolutionary War, the Philadelphia Library Company and New York Society Library served as surrogate congressional libraries when Congress was in those cities. The Library of Congress was established on April 24, 1800, when President John Adams signed an act of Congress that included appropriating $ 5,000 "for
9009-508: The inside leaf that it was "taken in President's room in the Capitol, at the destruction of that building by the British, on the capture of Washington, 24th August, 1814". He later gave it to his elder brother Sir James Cockburn , the Governor of Bermuda . The book was returned to the Library of Congress in 1940. The British intended to burn the building to the ground. They set fire to the southern wing first. The flames grew so quickly that
9126-549: The library doubled the size of its analog collections from 85.5 million items in 1987 to more than 160 million items in 2014. At the same time, it established new programs and employed new technologies to "get the champagne out of the bottle". These included: Since 1988, the library has administered the National Film Preservation Board . Established by congressional mandate, it selects twenty-five American films annually for preservation and inclusion in
9243-473: The library of the Romanov family on a variety of topics. Collections of Hebraica , Chinese, and Japanese works were also acquired. On one occasion, Congress initiated an acquisition: in 1929 Congressman Ross Collins (D-Mississippi) gained approval for the library to purchase Otto Vollbehr 's collection of incunabula for $ 1.5 million. This collection included one of three remaining perfect vellum copies of
9360-666: The library sponsored the Gateway to Knowledge in 2010 to 2011, a mobile exhibition to ninety sites, covering all states east of the Mississippi, in a specially designed eighteen-wheel truck. This increased public access to library collections off-site, particularly for rural populations, and helped raise awareness of what was also available online. Billington raised more than half a billion dollars of private support to supplement Congressional appropriations for library collections, programs, and digital outreach. These private funds helped
9477-590: The library to continue its growth and outreach in the face of a 30% decrease in staffing, caused mainly by legislative appropriations cutbacks. He created the library's first development office for private fundraising in 1987. In 1990, he established the James Madison Council, the library's first national private sector donor-support group. In 1987, Billington also asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct
9594-436: The library's Thomas Jefferson Building. In 2001, the library began a mass deacidification program, in order to extend the lifespan of almost 4 million volumes and 12 million manuscript sheets. In 2002, a new storage facility was completed at Fort Meade, Maryland , where a collection of storage modules have preserved and made accessible more than 4 million items from the library's analog collections. Billington established
9711-598: The library's acquisitions, cataloging, and bibliographic services. But he is best known for creating Library of Congress Missions worldwide. Missions played a variety of roles in the postwar world: the mission in San Francisco assisted participants in the meeting that established the United Nations , the mission in Europe acquired European publications for the Library of Congress and other American libraries, and
9828-413: The lives of the unarmed inhabitants of the United States". Ross was less optimistic. He "never dreamt for one minute that an army of 3,500 men with 1,000 marines reinforcement, with no cavalry, hardly any artillery, could march 50 miles inland and capture an enemy capital", according to historian John McCavitt. Ross refused to accept Cockburn's recommendation to burn the entire city. He spared nearly all of
9945-509: The lost books in 1852 but not to acquire new materials. (By 2008, the librarians of Congress had found replacements for all but 300 of the works that had been documented as being in Jefferson's original collection. ) This marked the start of a conservative period in the library's administration by librarian John Silva Meehan and joint committee chairman James A. Pearce , who restricted the library's activities. Meehan and Pearce's views about
10062-528: The military fled the city in the wake of the British victory at Bladensburg. They found refuge for the night in Brookeville , a small town in Montgomery County, Maryland , which is known today as the "United States' Capital for a Day". President Madison spent the night in the house of Caleb Bentley , a Quaker who lived and worked as a silversmith in Brookeville. Bentley's house, known today as
10179-540: The mission in Japan aided in the creation of the National Diet Library . Evans' successor Lawrence Quincy Mumford took over in 1953. During his tenure, lasting until 1974, Mumford directed the initiation of construction of the James Madison Memorial Building , the third Library of Congress building on Capitol Hill. Mumford led the library during the government's increased educational spending. The library
10296-496: The name of the Library of Congress, a recommendation rebuked by Mumford as "unspeakable violence to tradition." The debate continued within the library community for some time. The Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 renewed emphasis for the library on its legislative roles, requiring a greater focus on research for Congress and congressional committees, and renaming the Legislative Reference Service as
10413-473: The night in Brookeville , a small town in Montgomery County, Maryland ; President Madison spent the night in the house of Caleb Bentley , a Quaker who lived and worked in Brookeville. Bentley's house, known today as the Madison House, still exists. The United Kingdom was already at war with France when the United States declared war in 1812. The war against France took up most of Britain's attention and military resources. The initial British strategy against
10530-492: The offer in January 1815, appropriating $ 23,950 to purchase his 6,487 books. Some House members, like New Hampshire representative Daniel Webster , opposed the purchase, wanting to exclude "books of an atheistical, irreligious, and immoral tendency". Jefferson's collection, gathered over 50 years, covered various subjects and languages, including topics not typically found in a legislative library. He believed all subjects had
10647-527: The only buildings to escape destruction. Also spared were the Marine Barracks and Commandant's House, although several private properties were damaged or destroyed. In the afternoon of August 25, General Ross sent two hundred men to secure a fort on Greenleaf's Point. The fort, later known as Fort McNair , had already been destroyed by the Americans, but 150 barrels of gunpowder remained. While
10764-399: The only copy of the 1507 Waldseemüller world map ("America's birth certificate") in 2003; it is on permanent display in the library's Thomas Jefferson Building. Using privately raised funds, the Library of Congress has created a reconstruction of Thomas Jefferson's original library. This has been on permanent display in the Jefferson building since 2008. Under Billington, public spaces of
10881-521: The only records of the War Department lost were recommendations of appointments for the Army and letters received from seven years earlier. The First U.S. Patent Office Building was saved by the efforts of William Thornton , the former architect of the Capitol and then the superintendent of patents, who gained British cooperation to preserve it. "When the smoke cleared from the dreadful attack,
10998-636: The papers of the Founding Fathers from the State Department to the Library of Congress. Putnam expanded foreign acquisitions as well, including the 1904 purchase of a 4,000-volume library of Indica, the 1906 purchase of G. V. Yudin's 80,000-volume Russian library, the 1908 Schatz collection of early opera librettos , and the early 1930s purchase of the Russian Imperial Collection, consisting of 2,600 volumes from
11115-420: The past three centuries; 33,000 bound newspaper volumes; 500,000 microfilm reels; U.S. and foreign comic books—over 12,000 titles in all, totaling more than 140,000 issues; 1.9 million moving images (as of 2020); 5.3 million maps ; 6 million works of sheet music ; 3 million sound recordings ; more than 14.7 million prints and photographic images including fine and popular art pieces and architectural drawings;
11232-536: The post from 1939 to 1944 during the height of World War II , MacLeish became the most widely known librarian of Congress in the library's history. MacLeish encouraged librarians to oppose totalitarianism on behalf of democracy; dedicated the South Reading Room of the Adams Building to Thomas Jefferson, and commissioned artist Ezra Winter to paint four themed murals for the room. He established
11349-431: The previous year. On June 25, he wrote to Cochrane stressing that the defenses there were weak, and he felt that several major cities were vulnerable to attack. Cochrane suggested attacking Baltimore , Washington, D.C. , and Philadelphia . Rear Admiral Cockburn accurately predicted that "within a short period of time, with enough force, we could easily have at our mercy the capital". He recommended Washington, D.C. as
11466-567: The privately owned properties. An added motive was retaliation for the "wanton destruction of private property along the north shores of Lake Erie" by American troops under Colonel John Campbell in May, the most notable being the Raid on Port Dover . On June 2, Sir George Prevost , Governor General of British North America , wrote to Cochrane at Admiralty House , in Bailey's Bay , Bermuda, calling for
11583-432: The program began digitizing selected collections of Library of Congress archival materials that chronicle the nation's history. In order to reproduce collections of books, pamphlets, motion pictures, manuscripts and sound recordings, the Library has created a range of digital entities: bitonal document images, grayscale and color pictorial images, digital video and audio , and searchable e-texts . To provide access to
11700-416: The public buildings, including the Capitol, "on their present sites in the city of Washington". Benjamin Latrobe , architect of the Capitol who took over for William Thornton in 1803, was rehired to repair the building on April 18. He immediately requested 60,000 feet (18,288 m) of boards, 500 tons of stone, 1,000 barrels of lime, and brick. With the $ 500,000 borrowed from Washington banks, Latrobe
11817-640: The public buildings. One pair currently hangs in the House of Assembly of the Parliament of Bermuda , and the other in the Cabinet Building, both in the city of Hamilton . There was a movement in Congress to relocate the capital after the burning. Congressmen from the north pushed for relocation to Philadelphia or some other prominent northern city, while Southern congressmen claimed that moving
11934-423: The purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress ... and for fitting up a suitable apartment for containing them." Books were ordered from London, forming a collection of 740 books and three maps housed in the new United States Capitol . President Thomas Jefferson played a crucial role in shaping the Library of Congress. On January 26, 1802, he signed a bill allowing the president to appoint
12051-624: The rascals can have no further means of abusing my name". The British sought out the United States Treasury in hopes of finding money or items of worth, but they found only old records. They burned the United States Treasury and other public buildings. The United States Department of War building was also burned. However, the War and State Department files had been removed, so the books and records had been saved;
12168-746: The reproductions, the project developed a range of descriptive elements: bibliographic records, finding aids, and introductory texts and programs, as well as indexing the full texts for certain types of content. The reproductions were produced with a variety of tools: image scanners , digital cameras , devices that digitize audio and video, and human labor for rekeying and encoding texts. American Memory employs national-standard and well established industry-standard formats for many digital reproductions, e.g., texts encoded with Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) and images stored in Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) files or compressed with
12285-579: The south side of the Potomac River , while Ross's troops were leaving Washington. The mayor of Alexandria made a deal and the British refrained from burning the town. In 2013, an episode of the Weather Channel documentary series When Weather Changed History , entitled "The Thunderstorm That Saved D.C.", was devoted to these events. President Madison and the military officers returned to Washington by September 1, on which date Madison issued
12402-455: The south wing. After burning the Capitol, the British turned northwest up Pennsylvania Avenue toward the White House. After U.S. government officials and President Madison fled the city, First Lady Dolley Madison received a letter from her husband, urging her to be prepared to leave Washington at a moment's notice. Dolley organized the enslaved and other staff to save valuables from the British. James Madison's personal enslaved attendant,
12519-504: The storm, the British troops returned to their ships, many of which were badly damaged. There is some debate regarding the effect of this storm on the occupation. While some assert that the storm forced the British to retreat, historians have argued that their intention was only to destroy the city's government buildings, rather than occupy it for an extended period. It is also clear that Ross never intended to damage private buildings as had been recommended by Cockburn and Cochrane. Whatever
12636-405: The target, because of the comparative ease of attacking the national capital and "the greater political effect likely to result". On July 18, Cochrane ordered Cockburn to "deter the enemy from a repetition of similar outrages ... You are hereby required and directed to destroy and lay waste such towns and districts as you may find assailable". Cochrane further instructed, "You will spare merely
12753-547: The war. Three weeks into his term as Librarian of Congress, he left Washington, D.C., to serve as a volunteer aide-de-camp at the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg during the American Civil War . Stephenson's hiring of Spofford, who directed the library in his absence, may have been his most significant achievement. Librarian Ainsworth Rand Spofford , who directed the Library of Congress from 1865 to 1897, built broad bipartisan support to develop it as
12870-534: The way for the expansion of the city that developed in the years leading up to the American Civil War . In 2009, President Barack Obama held a ceremony at the White House to honor the Madisons' slave Paul Jennings as a representative of staff action to save the Gilbert Stuart painting and other valuables. (The painting that was saved was a copy Stuart made of the painting, not the original, although it
12987-478: Was able to establish new acquisition centers abroad, including in Cairo and New Delhi . In 1967, the library began experimenting with book preservation techniques through a Preservation Office. This has developed as the most extensive library research and conservation effort in the United States. During Mumford's administration, the last significant public debate occurred about the Library of Congress's role as both
13104-432: Was able to rebuild the two wings and the central dome before being fired in 1817 over budgetary conflicts. Charles Bulfinch took over and completed the renovations by 1826. Bulfinch modified Latrobe's design by increasing the height of the Capitol dome to match the diameter of 86 ft (26.2 m). With the reconstruction of the public buildings in Washington, the value of land in the area increased dramatically, paving
13221-652: Was in part a retaliation for prior American actions in British-held Upper Canada , in which U.S. forces had burned and looted York the previous year and had then burned large portions of Port Dover . Less than four days after the attack began, a heavy thunderstorm, possibly a hurricane and a tornado , extinguished the fires and caused further destruction. The British occupation of Washington, D.C. lasted for roughly 26 hours. President James Madison , along with his administration and several military officials, evacuated and were able to find refuge for
13338-507: Was less optimistic. While Cockburn recommended burning the entire city, Ross planned to damage only public buildings. Ross, who was described by historian John McCavitt as "an officer and a gentleman", initially planned for an orderly surrender of Washington. However, as he and his men entered the city under a flag of truce, American soldiers remaining in the city "treacherously" opened fire, wounding Ross' horse and killing two of his men. McCavitt argued that this led him to "reluctantly" order
13455-575: Was noted between Sir George Cockburn and a female resident of Washington. "Dear God! Is this the weather to which you are accustomed in this infernal country?" enquired the Admiral. "This is a special interposition of Providence to drive our enemies from our city", the woman allegedly called out to Cockburn. "Not so, Madam", Cockburn retorted. "It is rather to aid your enemies in the destruction of your city", before riding off on horseback. The Royal Navy reported that it lost one man killed and six wounded in
13572-415: Was so sure that the attacking force would be made prisoners of war that a handsome feast had been prepared. Blanshard and his sappers enjoyed it. The soldiers then burned the president's house, and fuel was added to the fires that night to ensure they would continue burning into the next day. The day after the destruction of the White House, Rear Admiral Cockburn entered the building of the D.C. newspaper,
13689-603: Was tied with the Boston Public Library as the nation's largest library. It moved from the Capitol building to its new headquarters in 1897 with more than 840,000 volumes, 40 percent of which had been acquired through copyright deposit. A year before the library's relocation, the Joint Library Committee held hearings to assess the condition of the library and plan for its future growth and possible reorganization. Spofford and six experts sent by
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